444 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Cal. All plant material shipped from these stations was .examined 

 during the year or at the time of shipment to eliminate the possibility 

 of dissemination of noxious insects or plant diseases. 



PLANT QUARANTINES. 



The foreign and domestic quarantines and other restrictive orders 

 now being enforced under the plant quarantine act are listed at the 

 end of this report. Of these the following have been promulgated or 

 revised during the year : 



J^O'/nesfie. — The sweet-potato and yam quarantine, the banana plant 

 quarantine, and the gipsy moth and brown-tail moth quarantine (a 

 revision). 



Foreif/n. — ^The sweet-potato and yam quarantine, and the banana 

 plant quarantine. 



The sweet-potato and yam quarantine prohibits the further entry 

 of sweet potatoes and yams from all foreign countries and from the 

 Territories of Hawaii and Porto Rico, effective January 1. 1918. Pro- 

 mulgation of this quarantine was based on the risk which developed 

 of entry of a new and important sweet-potato pest, the so-called 

 sAveet-potato scarabee {Euscepes hatatae), which has a fairly wide 

 distribution in the West Indian Islands and in South America and 

 also in certain trans-Pacific islands and countries. The quarantine 

 is also aimed at the sweet-potato weevils, one of which has already 

 got firm foothold in this country and is now being made the subject 

 of an effort at extermination. The only means of excluding these 

 insects is to prohibit the entry of sweet potatoes and yams, inasmuch 

 as the larvae of these insects may be entirely hidden within the tubers 

 and beyond the reach of disinfectants. The total importations of 

 sweet potatoes and yams affected by this quarantine is inconsiderable. 



The quarantine prohibiting the entry of banana plants from for- 

 eion countries and from the Territories of Hawaii and Porto Rico, 

 effective April 1, 1918. is directed particularly at the banana root 

 borer {Cosmopolites sordidus Germar), known to have a fairly wide 

 distribution throughout the tropical regions of both hemispheres. 

 This borer may be readily transported in shipments of banana plants 

 and has been the cause of extensive loss to plantations in countries 

 where it is es^^ablished. This insect was discovered in Florida thin 

 year, evidently a recent importation affecting comparatively few 

 plantations. Radical measures were undertaken by the State in 

 cooperation with this department to effect its extermination, so that 

 the banana industry which may hereafter develop in Florida or else- 

 where may be safeguarded from this source of loss. No important 

 commercial interests are affected by this quarantine. 



The gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth quarantine, effective June 

 1, 1918. represents merely the annual revision of this quarantine 

 which has been in effect since November 25, 1912, to take account of 

 necessary changes in distribution. The changes necessary this year 

 were comparatively unimportant. 



COOPERATIVE WORK. 



The boai'd has cooperated during the year in the inspection and 

 clean-up work with relation to the newly imported banana weevil in 



